Random percussion musical instrument

ABSTRACT

A hammer is rotated by a driving means through a lost motion connection to strike bells positioned around the hammer in a random sequence.

United States Patent [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1/1938 Anderson.....................

[72] Inventor Harold C. England 38 Caryl Ave,

[2| App]. No. 67,742

[22] Filed Yonkers, N.Y. 10705 2,104,963 3,456,543 7/1969 Kosuge.........................

Aug.28,1970 [45] Patented Aug.3l, 1971 Primary Examiner-Richard B. Wilkinson Assistant Examiner.lohn F. Gonzales Attorney-Curtis Ailes 84/ 103, 84/406 Gl0f 1/08, G 10d 13/08 [51] Int.

ABSTRACT: A hammer is rotated by a driving means through ells positioned around the Field of 84/102, a lost motion connection to strike b 103, 402, 406, 407 hammer in a random sequence.

PATENIED AUBSI I97! SHEET 1 UF 2 FIG. 1

INVENTOR HAROLD G. HOAGLAND ama ATTORNEY PATENTED'AUGBI IHYI 3 50 0 2 SHEET 2 0F 2 FIG. 2

' RANDOM PERCUSSION MUSICAL INSTRUMENT This invention relates to a musical instrument of the percussion type which is operable ina random manner to provide original and constantly changing musical tone sequences.

Most musical instruments require considerable skill by the operator, or musician, in order toiprovide pleasing musical results. Various attempts have been made to provide automatic mechanically operable music machines 'which. will produce musical results without a skilled operator. However, these automatic musical machines usually provide inferior results because they are very mechanical and repetitious, displaying none of the originality and artistry of a live musician.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a random percussion musical instrument which provides interesting and original musical tone combinations, in nonrepetitious sequences,-entirely automatically, and without requiring any skill by the operator.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description and the accompanying drawings. 7

In carrying out the invention there may be provided a random percussion musical instrument having a rotatable driving means with a hammer means having at least one radially protruding portion and having a lost motion frictional engage-' ment with said rotatable driving means for rotation thereby. A plurality of musical tone generating elements are positioned around the driving means and arranged to be engaged by said 2 hammer means upon rotation thereof by said driving means. Said lost motion connection provides for radial movement of said hammer means with respect to said driving means sufficient to permit said radially protruding portion to strike any one of said tone generating elements upon maximum radial extension of said radially protruding portion and to miss said tone generating elementsupon retraction to a lesser radial extension. Said hammer means is operable upon engagement of said radially protruding portion with one of said tone generating elements to move said radially. protruding portion to a retracted position.

In the accompanyingv drawings:

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional side view illustrating a preferred embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 2 is a detail top view of .the hammer employed in the embodiment of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a side view of amounting ring for the musical tone generating elements as employed in the embodiment of FIG. 1. 1

FIG. 4 is a bottom view of the ring of FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is a detail view of a modified embodiment employing two separate hammers.

And FIG. 6 is a top detail view of a modified hammer used in the embodiment of FIG. 5.

Referring particularly to FIG. 1, there is shown asmall electric motor 10 which continuously rotates a driving disc 12 carrying a hammer 14 on its upper surface. A top detail view of the hammer 14 is shown in FIG. 2, where it is seen to include a radially protruding portion 16.

A plurality of musical tone generating elements consisting of metal tubular bells 18 are suspended around the disc 12. and the hammer l4, andarranged to be struck bythe hammer to produce'musical tones. As further illustrated in FIG. 2, the hammer 14 includes a relatively large central opening at 20 through which the hub of the disc 12 is threaded upon assembly of the apparatus. Since the hub'of the disc 12 is considerably smaller than the opening 20 in the hammer 14, a lost motion connection between these two elements is provided such that the hammer 14 may bounce around upon the upper surface of the disc .12 in such a manner as to'miss the bells 18, unless the radially extended portion 16 is more or less fully extended.

When operation of the instrument is initiated, the rotation of the disc 12 causesttransmission of rotational forces by friction to the hammer 14. Asthe hammer l4 isaccelerated, the resultant centrifugal force causes the'radially protruding portion 16 to be fully extended so as to. strike one of the bells 18. When this occurs',.not only is a musical tone generated'by the hell, but the hammer 14 is rotationally-decelerated and the reaction force of the impact against the bell 18 also causes the hammer to be retracted so that the radially. protruding portion 16 generally misses one or more of the succeeding bells 18 in the circle of bells. v 1 In one preferred physical embodiment, there areas many as eight bells suspended aboutthehammer 14 so as to provide a considerable variety in musical results. After the hammer is bounced to the retracted'position,.it generallywill not strike another bell until it is accelerated sufficiently to cause the hammer to becomeradially extended again. This may happen in a reasonably rapid manner, depending-upon the speed of the motor 10. However, the hammer does operate in a random manner since it is never certain how many bells will be skipped to produce successive bell tones. This provides a musical result which is very pleasing and continuously original and random in nature. Different effects maybe obtained by varying the slope of the :side edges of the protruding portion 16 of the hammer l4to obtain varying degrees of retractionof the hammer on each bell impact. The speed of the motor 10 is also important in this, regard.

It has also been determined that particularly pleasing effects are achievable by employing a low friction plastic such as polytetrafluorethylene as the material for at least the upper surface of the disc 12 which drives thehammer 14. The entire disc12 may be composed of polytetrafluorethylene. By-employing this low friction material, a delayed acceleration of the hammer 14 is provided so that the average rotational speed of the hammer is reduced. and the skipping interval of the hammer from onebell 18 to the next bell which is struck is increased.

In the preferred embodiment, the hammer 14 is simply punched from a flatsheet of metal and the driving force transmitted by the disc 12 to the hammer 14 is provided entirely by the friction derived from the gravity force of the hammer 14 upon the disc 12. Both the bells 18 and the hammer 14 may be composed of brass.

The entire instrument is supported upon a hollow outer housing 22 which may be composed of a transparent or translucent plastic, and which may preferably have openings, such as at 24, to permit the ringing of the bells to be easily heard without obstruction. At'tlie upper portion of the housing 22, a bell supporting ring 26 is mounted and supported through a rubber cushioning ring 28. The bells 18 are suspended from the supporting ring 26 by means of filaments 30. The ring 26 is described below in more detail in connection with FIGS. 3 and 4 The motor 10 is supported within a housing 32, which may be composed of an electrical insulating material such as plastic, and which is suspended and supported through a rubber cushioning ring 34 upon the support ring 26. In order to prevent any undesired banging of the bells against the housing 32, causing secondary percussion tones, the housing is preferably provided with circular rubber cushions in the form of O-rings 36 which tend to dampen the vibrations of the bells if they move near the housing, rather than creating additional tone generating excitation of the bells.

The combination of the rubber cushioning rings 28 and 34 provide for some degree of freedom of movement of the easing 32 such thatif the instrument is placed upon a surface which is not perfectly horizontal, the casing 32 can adjust itself similarly to a'pendulum or a plumb bob so as to hang in the center of the ring formed by the bells 18, so that all of the bells can be reached by the tip of the hammer I4.

As a precaution in preventing motor noise from interfering with the bell music, in addition to the rubber ring cushions 28 and 34, there is preferably provided a rubber cushion 38 in the bottom of the casing 32 for supporting the motor 10.

The motor 10 may be energized by means of a battery 40 supported within the casing 32, and having electrical connections to the motor through a spring 42, a spring holder 44, and also through a switch 46, a connector 48, and a wire 50. The switch 46 is preferably supported upon a cap 52 having a spring snap connection at its lower edge with the upper edge of the outer housing 22. The cap 52 may be easily snapped off for the purpose of changing batteries.

J: FIGS. 3 and 4 are detail views of the bell supporting ring 26. 1G. 3 is a side view of this ring, and FIG. 4 is a bottom view. The support ring includes a circumferential groove 54, and a number of axial grooves 56 which preferablyextend to the same depth as the circumferential groove 54. In the preferred method of assembly, a rubber band of appropriate size is first stretched and inserted in the bottom of the circumferential groove 54. The bell-hanging filaments 30 are then placed in the axial grooves 56, and appropriately adjusted to establish the correct height for each of the bells. A second rubber band is then inserted into the groove 54 and the tension of the second rubber band firmly holds the filaments 30 against the first rubber band to establish a secure frictional engagement that the filaments 30 do not get out of adjustment. Various arrangements of the filaments 30 are possible. For instance, an individual filament loop may be provided for each bell. Howjver, with the assembly described above, it is possible to use a ingle continuous filament which is threaded through bellmounting holes and then through axial grooves 56 in an alternating sequence.

FIG. 5 is a partial sectional view showing details of a modified embodiment of the invention in which a modified disc 12A is provided having an auxiliary second disc 13 at a lower level which may be formed as an integral part of the disc 12A. The lower disc 13 supports a second hammer 14A which may operate in a random manner, exactly as the hammer 14,

but being a random device it does not exactly follow the pattern and sequence of tones which hammer l4 follows. Accordingly, two separate random tone patterns are generated by the two hammers l4 and 14A.

FIG. 6 illustrates the modified construction of hammer 14A of the embodiment of P16. 5 in which the central opening, indicated at A, includes a peripheral slot. The mouth of the slot is made just a little bit narrower than the hub portion of the auxiliary disc 13 so that the hammer 14A may be snapped over the hub, slightly springing the material of the hammer at the time of assembly. Since the normal forces are much less than the assembly force, the hammer 14A is safely retained upon the hub of the disc 13 after it is once assembled.

While this invention has been shown and described in connection with particular preferred embodiments, various alterations and modifications will occur to those skilled in the art. Accordingly, the following claims are intended to define the valid scope of this invention over the prior art, and to cover all changes and modifications falling within the true spirit and valid scope of this invention.

Iclaim:

l 1. A random percussion musical instrument comprising a rotatable driving means,

a hammer means having at least one radially protruding portion and having a lost motion frictional engagement with said rotatable driving means for rotation thereby,

a plurality of musical tone generating elements positioned around said driving means and arranged to be engaged by said hammer means upon rotation thereof by said driving means,

said lost motion connection providing for radial movement of said hammer means with respect to said driving means sufficient to permit said radially protruding portion to strike any one of said tone-generating elements upon maximum radial extension of said radially protruding portion and to miss said tone-generating elements upon retraction to a lesser radial extension,

said hammer means being operable upon engagement of said radially protruding portion with one of said tonegenerating elements to ,move said radially protruding por tion to a retracted position.

2. An instrument as claimed in claim 1 wherein said retracted position to which said radially protruding portion of said hammer means is moved is a position in which said protruding portion will not engage said tone-generating elements,

the engagement of said radially protruding por 'o' with said tone-generating element being operable t reduce the rotational velocity of said hammer means,

said drivingv means being operable to accelerate the rotational velocity of said hammer means sufficient to cause said radially protruding portion to be radially extended by centrifugal force to again strike one of said musical tonegenerati ng elements. 1

3. A musical instrument as claimed in claim 1 wherein said rotatable driving means is arranged for rot tion on a vertical axis and said hammer means is a substantially flat element,

said rotatable driving means comprising a rotatable disc,

and

said hammer means being supported axially upoli said disc to provide said lost motion frictional e gagement between said hammer means and said driving means.

4. An instrument as claimed in claim 3 wherein the frictional force of said lost motion frictional engagement between said hammer means and said disc is provided entirely by the force of gravity upon said hammer means.

5. An instrument as claimed in claim 4 wherein said disc member includes an uppersurface composed of a material having a low coefficient of friction supporting said hammer means. a 1

6. A musical instrument as claimed in claim 5 wherein said low coefficient of friction material consists essentially of polytetrafluorethylene. J i

7. An instrumentas claimed in claim 1 wherein said musical tone-generating elements are bells.

8. An instrument as claimed in claim 7 wherein said bells are in the form of hollow metal tubular members of different lengths to provide different musical tones.

9. An instrument as claimed in claim 8 wherein there is provided a filament suspension means engaging with said tubular bell members by means of which said bell members are supported by suspension. i

10. An instrument as claimed in claim 9 wherein there is provided a bell support ring having at least one circumferential slot therein extending around the complete outer circumference thereof,

said support ring also including a plurality of axially extending slots at the outer circumference thereof and having a depth substantially equal to the depth of said circumferential slot, 4 v

said filament suspension means being positioned in looped arrangement in said axial slots,

a first expandable elastic band positioned in expanded tension in the bottom of said circumferential slot and beneath said filament suspension means, and

a second expandable elastic band positioned in said circumferential slot over said filament suspension means to maintain said suspension means in a cushioned frictional engagement between said first and second elastic bands.

11. An instrument as claimed in claim 8 wherein said rotatable driving means comprises an electric motor.

12. An instrument as claimed in claim 11 wherein there is provided an inner body member housing said electric motor,

said inner body member being substantially cylindrical in shape and substantially filling the space encircled and defined by said tubular bells.

13. An instrument as claimed in claim 12 wherein a plurality of rubber O-rings are provided on the exterior cylindrical surface of said inner body member to cushion said tubular bells against striking said inner body member.

adjustment in response to gravity to maintain said inner body member and said tubular bell members in substantially parallel vertical mutual alignment.

16. An instrument as claimed in claim 3 wherein said hammer means comprises a plurality of separate hammers supported at difierent vertical levels by said driving means and each having at least one radially protruding portion to strike said tone-generating elements. 

1. A random percussion musical instrument comprising a rotatable driving means, a hammer means having at least one radially protruding portion and having a lost motion frictional engagement with said rotatable driving means for rotation thereby, a plurality of musIcal tone generating elements positioned around said driving means and arranged to be engaged by said hammer means upon rotation thereof by said driving means, said lost motion connection providing for radial movement of said hammer means with respect to said driving means sufficient to permit said radially protruding portion to strike any one of said tone-generating elements upon maximum radial extension of said radially protruding portion and to miss said tonegenerating elements upon retraction to a lesser radial extension, said hammer means being operable upon engagement of said radially protruding portion with one of said tone-generating elements to move said radially protruding portion to a retracted position.
 2. An instrument as claimed in claim 1 wherein said retracted position to which said radially protruding portion of said hammer means is moved is a position in which said protruding portion will not engage said tone-generating elements, the engagement of said radially protruding portion with said tone-generating element being operable to reduce the rotational velocity of said hammer means, said driving means being operable to accelerate the rotational velocity of said hammer means sufficient to cause said radially protruding portion to be radially extended by centrifugal force to again strike one of said musical tone-generating elements.
 3. A musical instrument as claimed in claim 1 wherein said rotatable driving means is arranged for rotation on a vertical axis and said hammer means is a substantially flat element, said rotatable driving means comprising a rotatable disc, and said hammer means being supported axially upon said disc to provide said lost motion frictional engagement between said hammer means and said driving means.
 4. An instrument as claimed in claim 3 wherein the frictional force of said lost motion frictional engagement between said hammer means and said disc is provided entirely by the force of gravity upon said hammer means.
 5. An instrument as claimed in claim 4 wherein said disc member includes an upper surface composed of a material having a low coefficient of friction supporting said hammer means.
 6. A musical instrument as claimed in claim 5 wherein said low coefficient of friction material consists essentially of polytetrafluorethylene.
 7. An instrument as claimed in claim 1 wherein said musical tone-generating elements are bells.
 8. An instrument as claimed in claim 7 wherein said bells are in the form of hollow metal tubular members of different lengths to provide different musical tones.
 9. An instrument as claimed in claim 8 wherein there is provided a filament suspension means engaging with said tubular bell members by means of which said bell members are supported by suspension.
 10. An instrument as claimed in claim 9 wherein there is provided a bell support ring having at least one circumferential slot therein extending around the complete outer circumference thereof, said support ring also including a plurality of axially extending slots at the outer circumference thereof and having a depth substantially equal to the depth of said circumferential slot, said filament suspension means being positioned in looped arrangement in said axial slots, a first expandable elastic band positioned in expanded tension in the bottom of said circumferential slot and beneath said filament suspension means, and a second expandable elastic band positioned in said circumferential slot over said filament suspension means to maintain said suspension means in a cushioned frictional engagement between said first and second elastic bands.
 11. An instrument as claimed in claim 8 wherein said rotatable driving means comprises an electric motor.
 12. An instrument as claimed in claim 11 wherein there is provided an inner body member housing said electric motor, said inner body member being substantially cylindrical in shape and substantially filling the space encircled and defined by said tubular bells.
 13. An instrument as claimed in claim 12 wherein a plurality of rubber O-rings are provided on the exterior cylindrical surface of said inner body member to cushion said tubular bells against striking said inner body member.
 14. An instrument as claimed in claim 12 wherein said inner body member and said tubular bells are suspended within a hollow outer body member, said outer body member having openings therein to permit unobstructed transfer of sound therethrough.
 15. An instrument as claimed in claim 14 wherein said inner body member and said tubular bells are suspended within said outer body member to provide at least a limited pivotal movement with respect thereto for adjustment in response to gravity to maintain said inner body member and said tubular bell members in substantially parallel vertical mutual alignment.
 16. An instrument as claimed in claim 3 wherein said hammer means comprises a plurality of separate hammers supported at different vertical levels by said driving means and each having at least one radially protruding portion to strike said tone-generating elements. 